Breaking Benjamin returns to The Pavilion at Montage Mountain on Sept. 18 for Dark Before Dawn tour

Benjamin Burnley of the band Breaking Benjamin performs in concert during the MMRBQ Music Festival 2015 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. Breaking Benjamin will perform at Montage Mountain Sept. 18.

Benjamin Burnley of the band Breaking Benjamin performs in concert during the MMRBQ Music Festival 2015 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. Breaking Benjamin will perform at Montage Mountain Sept. 18.

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MOOSIC — When it came time for Benjamin Burnley to debut the new Breaking Benjamin lineup, he chose Gator’s Pub and Eatery in Luzerne—the former site of local music hotbed Voodoo Lounge. After a prolonged series of dates that included stops at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio, and the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, Breaking Benjamin is returning to Northeastern Pennsylvania for a hometown show that’ll occur almost a year to the date of their Sept. 19, 2014 comeback.

“That’s where the band got its start, so we’re really looking forward to giving them the show that they deserve,” Burnley said. “It’s just amazing to be able to go back where everything started, give it our all and have a great time with everybody. We’re really looking forward to that.”

Breaking Benjamin has been on the road for a good portion of 2015, which has given Burnley his first opportunity to play locations across the country since the band’s 2010 hiatus. He was excited to find still-eager fans in other cities and he’s anticipating the response at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain.

“We’ve been having an amazing time,” Burnley said. “We’ve been to a lot of places that I’ve been to before and it’s awesome to revisit those places with the new lineup and have people be more frantic than they’ve ever been. I know that Northeastern Pennsylvania is going to be the best of them all because the people there have always been so amazing and such an incredible fan base.”

Burnley said the band is going to do a few things differently when they perform for their NEPA fan base. Breaking Benjamin usually plays sets that hover around an hour-and-a-half, but they’re planning a set for their Sept. 18 show that approaches the two-hour mark. The band is also planning to play an equal amount of tracks from each of their albums, including their debut LP, “Saturate.” Even the band’s supporting act, Sevendust, was hand-picked for the Northeastern Pennsylvania crowd.

“It’s just another way to give the fans that come to see that show the best experience that they can have,” Burnley said. “I know that Northeast Pennsylvania is very, very into Sevendust, so that had a lot to do with why we wanted them to be on that show with us. I grew up listening to them and I’ve always been a humongous fan. Everybody else that I know is as well. They’re great guys, an amazing band and it’s an honor to share the stage with them.”

A lot can happen in a year. After the new Breaking Benjamin lineup debuted in Luzerne, the band performed a stint of acoustic shows and hit the radio and festival circuit before embarking on a headline tour in support of their first Billboard No. 1 album, “Dark Before Dawn.” Breaking Benjamin returned to a fan base that was ready to not only lift the band back to the forefront of their genre, but to the forefront of American music.

“The band is just grateful for all the support we’ve been getting from fans and we want to say thank you so much to everybody that’s been so amazing to us,” Burnley said. “We’d be nothing without the fans and we know that, so we are just absolutely grateful and thankful that everybody is still rocking out with us.”

Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @TLArts

By Gene Axton

gaxton@timesleader.com

Benjamin Burnley of the band Breaking Benjamin performs in concert during the MMRBQ Music Festival 2015 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. Breaking Benjamin will perform at Montage Mountain Sept. 18.

http://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_breakingben1.jpgBenjamin Burnley of the band Breaking Benjamin performs in concert during the MMRBQ Music Festival 2015 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. Breaking Benjamin will perform at Montage Mountain Sept. 18.

Benjamin Burnley of the band Breaking Benjamin performs in concert during the MMRBQ Music Festival 2015 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. Breaking Benjamin will perform at Montage Mountain Sept. 18.

http://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_breakingben21.jpgBenjamin Burnley of the band Breaking Benjamin performs in concert during the MMRBQ Music Festival 2015 at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. Breaking Benjamin will perform at Montage Mountain Sept. 18.